Olympians sell agency to Chime

Former Olympians Alan Pascoe, Edward Leask and Jon Ridgeon today sold the sports marketing agency they founded nine years ago to Lord Bell's PR and advertising group Chime Communications in a deal worth up to £43m.

The Fast Track founding partners, who between them represented Britain at the Olympics seven times, will receive £15m upfront in cash and shares with a further £28m dependent on the company's profits over the next five years in the run up to, and year of, the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Fast Track chairman and former athlete Alan Pascoe, who competed in three Olympics and brought home a silver medal in the 1972 Games, owns the lion's share of the business with a 60% stake and could gain up to £25.8m from the deal.

Together with his co-founders he has built the company into a business with more than 90 staff and clients including the BBC, Heineken, Barclays, Sainsbury's and The National Lottery.

Mr Pascoe, who also acted as vice-chairman in the London 2012 Olympic bid, said the takeover was a "huge opportunity" for the firm to benefit from Chime's wider marketing services expertise.

He added: "This is an exciting time for our clients' partnership programmes within all sports as we continue the countdown to the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012 and the legacy beyond."

Mr Pascoe and co-director Mr Leask have been business partners for the past 30 years.

Mr Leask came fourth in the Soling Class sailing events at both the 1984 Los Angeles Games and the 1988 Games in Seoul, having previously won a silver medal in the Flying Dutchman Olympic Class in the 1970 World Championships.

Fellow co-founder and two-time Olympic track and field athlete Jon Ridgeon, managing partner of Fast Track, entered the sports marketing industry in 1994 after his sports career. He has since made a name for himself, recently handling the £50m renegotiation of the Norwich Union/UKA contract -the biggest commercial sponsorship in British sport outside football.

All three founding partners, together with managing director Jim Glover, are contracted to remain at Fast Track for at least five years following the sale.